With virtualization heating up in the low-power chip
market, Apple may use PowerPC architecture in future mobile
Internet
devices to attract the gaming market

A
recent eWeek article pointed out the growth in virtualization
in the mobile space. This technology is not new; however
the discussion has brought out an interesting set of potential
circumstances for Apple given its recent agreement
to buy PA Semi. Apple has stated in the past it had
no
interest
in developing
its own virtualization software for the Mac platform. When
Leopard arrived it did so sans an Apple VM.

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Apple VM for PA Semi

Today however Apple may soon be the new owner of a microprocessor
design company and it might behoove them to see to it that
virtualization capabilities play a front-burner role in the
development of new mobile Internet devices (MIDs). Since
Apple has been developing its OS
X operating system
on both PowerPC and Intel x86 for more than six years now,
it is capable of deploying OS X on both chip architectures.
It has also written OS X for the iPhone and iPod touch on
the ARM architecture, a chip architecture dominant in the
smartphone and small device markets.

Having OS X on so many chip architectures (three exactly)
doesn't seem too problematic for Apple at the moment and
affords them a great degree of hardware flexibility. However
developing
its own VM (virtual machine) technology and deploying it
on some of these product platforms (Mac, iPod, iPhone)
will gain them even more freedom in deploying their software
and others across all three product lines more quickly.

More interestingly, an Apple VM deployed on future PA Semi
PowerPC designs could give Apple a new "angle" into the world
of game consoles and mobile gaming -- a world now dominated
by the PowerPC architecture. This is especially interesting
in light of Nintendo's resurgence and its prolific
use of
the PowerPC architecture within a few generations of game
consoles. A licensing agreement with Nintendo could allow
Apple to build
a different category of mobile
devices that play Nintendo games, courtesy a virtualization
machine.

PA Semi - Why Apple Bought Them

Whether Apple will start investing in VM technology for
future mobile devices is anyone's guess. But such a plan
could allow a breach into the PowerPC-driven game console
world that bring about a flood of new possibilities
for Apple.

Though it will take some time to figure out why Apple really
bought PA Semi, we would have to agree with Roughly
Drafted's assessment that Apple wants to build out
more specialized proprietary hardware in order to compete
and differentiate
its products in the mobile Internet devices market
(this includes the iPod, the iPhone and future mobile devices
Apple
has not delivered to market yet). One thing is for sure.
PA Semi brings to Apple some stellar talent
and
the
future
of Apple's products look extremely attractive from this particular
-- "post-PA Semi" -- view.